Count Screwloose vs. Harry the Hoople Snake! Rare 1948 Comic Book Scans from Milt Gross

Here's another never-been-reprinted, scarcely-seen cartoon blast of brilliance from that Napoleon of nonsense, MILT GROSS! (Applause!!!)

This frenetic five-pager from 1948 was hidden in the back of issue #14 of ACG Comics "The Kilroys," which is otherwise just a run-of-the-mill teen comedy Archie-wanna-be. I gotta thank Eddie Trigueros for turning me on to this book. He was even nice enough to let me scan it, but like a doofus, I lost all the scans when I was resizing the images in Photoshop.

So I had to find the comic on eBay, and rescan my own copy. Good news is that these oddball funnybooks can be gotten online for not too much dough! I always try to find these golden-age cartoon and funny-animal comics in the worst condition possible. As long as they're readable, that's fine by me! I'd rather get four or five old crumbling comics for five bucks each than just one that's in more decent shape. Anyway, here are a few preview panels to get you warmed up...

There's no explanation for Harry the Hoople-Snake. He is what he is. It's a cartoon!

So after escaping the nuthouse, Count Screwloose ends up as a contestant on a radio quiz show...

What great crowds! Every face is hideously different. A real horror show for our hero.

WHAPPO! Man, I love the energy in this drawing below --

As usual, Count Screwloose escapes back IN to the Balmycrest Booby-Hatch where life is not so crazy!

The WHOLE five-page story is available to click on and download below.

Wow! The crowd LOVES it!

Just CLICK on each of the images below and a nice BIG comic book scan page will open in a new window. Enjoy!

Just CLICK on each of the images below and a nice BIG comic book scan page will open in a new window.

Fun + anarchy + cartooning genius = Milt Gross

A few months ago I posted a fantastic seven-page Count Screwloose comedy epic from ACG's Kilroys #5. Just CLICK below on the goofy dude smoking a mouthfull of cigars to jump over and see that delicious set of vintage comic book scans!

John K. wrote a couple posts that really sum up all that is wonderful about Milt Gross. Check out his insightful and heartfelt articles on Milt Gross HERE: all kinds of stuff: WOW. MILT GROSS. style, observation, sincerity, humanity
...and HERE: all kinds of stuff: Milt Gross comics, drawing with every principle EXCEPT construction

And the Asifa-Hollywood Animation Archive has some super scans of Milt Gross newspaper comics like Count Screwloose and Dave's delicatessen HERE.
UPDATE: There are a LOT more comic book scans to look at and download! Click HERE

Count Screwloose : Rarely Seen Comics Pages by Milt Gross

Here's a Count Screwloose comic book story that's been hidden away from most readers for the last 60 years. I found this loopy gem buried on pages 35-41 of a 1947 issue of ACG Comics' The Kilroys #5 (Many thanks to the original scanner, and to Aussie500 for posting many full issues of The Kilroys on http://goldenagecomics.co.uk ).

"Count Screwloose of Tooloose" was originally a newspaper Sunday page, starting its run in 1929. Count Screwloose was an inmate of an insane asylum, and in every he would escape and have frantically energetic encounters and adventures with the "outside world." Many years later, Milt Gross brought Screwloose back when he created brand new comic book stories for the American Comics Group (ACG).

At the end of each story, the Count would realize that life on the outside could be crazier than in the nuthouse, so he would break back in to the sanitarium where things more sane.

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Based on this totally cool house ad from the inside cover of Kilroys #3, these stories were done around the same time (1947) as the famous two-issue run of Milt Gross Funnies.

It looks to me like this ad was ghosted by Dan Gordon...look at the kid and the turtle...

...looks more like "dang" than Gross!

For more info on Milt Gross and his comics,
see this article from Don Markstein's Toonopedia

...and for LOTS more quality scans of Milt Gross newspaper strips and more, be sure to check out THIS LINK to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. There are many many different entries with scans covering a huge chunk of his illustrious career!
More info on Milt Gross at Lambiek.net

Two GREAT loving articles on Milt Gross
by John K HERE: all kinds of stuff: WOW. MILT GROSS. style, observation, sincerity, humanity
...and HERE: all kinds of stuff: Milt Gross comics, drawing with every principle EXCEPT construction

UPDATE: I just posted another long-lost Count Screwloose Milt Gross comic book story from a 1948 issue of The Kilroys #14! Come take a look HERE or just CLICK on the picture of Harry the Hoople-Snake below!

Click HERE for the comic book scans archive

Count Screwloose Gets Kicked Around – Milt Gross Comics Scans from ACG Kilroy’s #5

Some fun Count Screwloose comics
on Ger Appledorn’s “Those Fabuleous Fifties” blog
http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2009/01/from-killroys-12.html

When you get there, make sure to
scroll down the page a bit to find this 7-page comic.

Click on the pics to jump to the comic!

When you’re done reading the Count Screwloose comic, take a look around Ger Appledorn’s archived posts – He has a TON  of old comic treasures that I’ve never seen anywhere else!

Milt Gross ANIMATION! Jitterbug Follies and "Wanted: No Master" MGM ANIMATED Cartoons

Jitterbug Follies (1939) Milt Gross
Uploaded by klangley

In 1939, Milt Gross directed two animated shorts featuring Count Screwloose for MGM: Jitterbug Follies and Wanted: No Master.

I somehow missed these when they were first posted, but Kevin Langley posted Jitterbug Follies at DailyMotion.com. where you can watch it nice and BIG.

...and here's the second and last film cartoon from Milt Gross...Wanted: No Master.

Wanted No Master (1939)
Uploaded by klangley

Thanks to Kevin Langley for sharing!

for more Milt Gross, check out these previous entries:

Comic Book Scan: Count Screwloose in "No Kumquats"

Comic Book Scan: "Count Screwloose vs. Harry the Hoople-Snake"

I HIGHLY recommend reading these two posts by John K about the art of Milt Gross:
all kinds of stuff: WOW. MILT GROSS. style, observation, sincerity, humanity

...and HERE: all kinds of stuff: Milt Gross comics, drawing with every principle EXCEPT construction

For more on Milt Gross, see:

• Wikipedia entry on Milt Gross http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milt_Gross
• Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. on Milt Gross: http://www.bpib.com/gross.htm
• Toonopedia entry about Milt Gross: http://www.toonopedia.com/mgross.htm

Milt Gross Comic Book Scans: That's My Pop! and Banana Oil - Fifteen Pages of Comic Book High-larity courtesy of ComiCrazys

That's My Pop!
 

15 pages of Milt Gross comic book scans

from Moon Mullins #6 1948

at the wonderful ComiCrazys blog!

...and CLICK on any of the images below for MORE Milt Gross comics from the CartoonSNAP archives!

 

The Kumquat Story -- Milt Gross Comic Book Scan

"Count Screwloose vs. Harry the Hoople-Snake"

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I HIGHLY recommend reading these two posts by John K about the art of Milt Gross:
all kinds of stuff: WOW. MILT GROSS. style, observation, sincerity, humanity

...and HERE: all kinds of stuff: Milt Gross comics, drawing with every principle EXCEPT construction

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More Milt Gross at these fine blogs:

Milt Gross -- Count Screwloose funny comic book scans at:
http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2009/01/from-killroys-12.html

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…and at Chris Duffy’s “Comic Books Are Interesting” …

Patsy Pancake comic book scans from Milt Gross Funnies #2

For more on Milt Gross, check out:

• Wikipedia entry on Milt Gross http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milt_Gross
• Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. on Milt Gross: http://www.bpib.com/gross.htm
• Toonopedia entry about Milt Gross: http://www.toonopedia.com/mgross.htm

Complete Milt Gross Comic Book Stories is On Sale NOW! Yippee!!!

The Complete Milt Gross Comic Book Stories is finally IN STOCK at Amazon! Just got mine via FedEx today...it's BEAUTIFUL! (insert sound of weeping for joy!) Complete Milt Gross Comic Book Stories is a beautifully designed book collects the complete comic book stories of comic genius Milt Gross, culled from rare, impossible to track down comic books of the '40s, which have been lovingly restored.  This thick, full-color, 368-page hardcover book, in addition to exhuming every one of Milt Gross' wild and crazy comic book stories, shares rare photos, sketches, and unpublished art, including the previously unknown cover to the Milt Gross Funnies #3!
All the comics are lovingly photographed from the old yellowed comic book paper of the original comics. The coloring looks totally natural against the off-white, pulpy-textured paper. The paper itself is very hefty and thick, so there is no bleed-thru or transparency of images. This is a solidly-built book, with a strong sewn binding. I will post a review of the biography and all the extras as soon as I get a chance to properly wallow around with this beautiful classic comics collection!

For more on Milt Gross:

A couple years ago I posted a fantastic seven-page Count Screwloose comedy epic from ACG's Kilroys #5. Just CLICK below on the goofy dude smoking a mouthful of cigars to jump over and see that delicious set of vintage comic book scans!

>>> Lots of great Milt Gross comic Scans at ComiCrazys! <<<

John K. wrote a couple posts that really sum up all that is wonderful about Milt Gross. Check out his insightful and heartfelt articles on Milt Gross HERE: all kinds of stuff: WOW. MILT GROSS. style, observation, sincerity, humanity ...and HERE: all kinds of stuff: Milt Gross comics, drawing with every principle EXCEPT construction 

And here's John K's great tribute to Milt Gross HERE.

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The Asifa-Hollywood Animation Archive has some super scans of Milt Gross newspaper comics like Count Screwloose and Dave's delicatessen HERE.

Pudgy Pig Vintage Funny-Animal Comics - It’s Murder out There!

In a nice variation of the classic Count Screwloose storyline, Pudgy Pig yearns to leave the farm, but soon finds out there’s no place like home!

Pretty nice drawing throughout – classic 1940’s funny animal comics. I love the clarity and simplicity

The panel below is one of my favorites…

From WOTALIFE Comics #5
(Fox Feature Syndicate) December 1946